Posts Tagged ‘ez bike stand’

Some bike stands allow you to connect them together to form a bike rack. This is a very cool feature when you have multiple bikes to store because it keeps everything neatly organized in one place. Besides being easy to assemble, stability should also be improved by connecting bike stands together. The EZ Bike Stand uses the EZ Connector, which has been tested and proven to show more stability, particularly because more weight and surface area are touching the ground.

If it looks like a bike stand and works like a bike stand, it must be a bike stand. Not so! Bike stands live in a world of ambiguity amongst cyclists. The terms bicycle stand, bike stand, bicycle rack or bike rack may refer to the same thing. In fact, stationary bicycle trainers, bicycle carriers, bicycle repair stands, and motorcycle stands are sometimes called bike stands.

Interestingly, bike stand has no definition, however, a bicycle stand and bicycle carrier is defined as such:
• Bicycle stand – a stationary fixture to which a bicycle can be securely attached (typically using a bicycle lock) to prevent theft.
• Bicycle carrier – a device attached to a vehicle (e.g. to a car or bus) to which bicycles can be mounted for transport.
As the inventor of the EZ Bike Stand, this is surprising. I had not thought of a bicycle stand as a device to which bicycles may be securely attached. A bicycle rack perhaps, but not a bicycle stand. Even Orville and Wilbur Wright considered bike stands to be portable, easy to use devices to keep bicycles upright, not secured. However, I understand European countries often refer to bike stands as places to secure your bike and that these stands are located throughout their cities to accommodate the high volume of bicycle commuters and shoppers.

Perhaps it’s this confusion that has led cyclists to keep from exploring bicycle stands for their true value. Or maybe the portable bike stand is still in its infancy stage. Personally, I think it’s the most overlooked bicycle accessory today. Here’s a recent video I found on-line from a customer unknown to me. 2009 Specialized Allez Elite w/ EZ Bike Stand I believe the viral affect of cyclists telling cyclists about quality products using social media and technology will change the bicycle stand landscape in the future. And who knows, perhaps our friend the bike stand will finally get noticed by Webster.

Many people refer to a bicycle repair stand as a bike stand. However, a bicycle repair stand has a number of different features than a traditional bicycle stand. For example, they typically are much larger and heavier pieces of equipment, some of them weighing over 15 pounds. They lift your bike off the ground and use a clamping device to secure it. By raising your bike up, you are able to rotate the pedals forwards or backwards making it easy to work on gears, pedals, chains, brakes, etc. An elevated bike also makes it easy for you to work on while seated on a stool or chair. In addition, some bicycle repair stands will allow you to rotate or swivel your bike giving you access to both sides of it without moving your stool.

Unlike a bicycle stand which is usually portable, a bicycle repair stand is rarely traveled with because of its size and weight. Granted, I’ve seen bicycle shops and cycling teams bring them to races, but that’s out of necessity rather than convenience. Also, some bicycle repair stands permanently affix to a workbench like a vise, making them impossible to take with you.